'Dexter' Finale Recap: It's the End of the World As We Know ItSunday, December 18, 2011

On this week's episode of Dexter, the final showdown between Dexter and Travis takes place, with Harrison hanging in the balance. The producers have said that there are only two season's left, but they are setting them up to be epic.

Shark Bait

Dexter is still floating in the middle of the ocean hanging on to a piece of the wrecked boat. He is still in the water the next morning when the piece of wreckage sinks into water. I have an unnatural fear of open waters, so I was expecting a terrifying encounter with a Kracken or a Merman or something, but thankfully a ship comes to his rescue.

The ship isn't the best vessel of hope since it is being used to bring Cuban defectors to Florida. The ship's captain decides that it would be a good idea to rob his clients, but is stopped by Dexter who is conveniently sitting next to a harpoon. If I were about to attempt a robbery on a boat, I would probably make sure no one is near the harpoons. Dexter takes control of the ship and eventually ends up back on the sunny shores of Miami.

While all this is happening, Travis is busy making himself at home in the dead couple's house he took over while there is a news story about a solar eclipse happening that day. In case the writer's haven't done a good enough job of portraying how nuts Travis actually is, they have him yell at the corpses for smelling. I now finally understand that Travis is insane, thanks for clearing that up, writers!

Welcome Back

Dexter gets a hold of Jaime and has her take him and Harrison back home. He tells her that he fell out of his boat and that he lost his wallet, keys and cell phone. After going inside to spend time with his son, we see Travis tearing apart the furniture in his house and putting them in a wicker cradle. It seems as though he has big plans for his solar eclipse party.

Deb goes to Dexter's apartment to find him shirtless. Following the teeth-clenchingly painful love fantasy from last week, I am now waiting for open-mouth kissing to occur at any moment, Deb tells Dexter that she loves him, and he replies that he loves her too. This is the first time that he has said that to Dexter, and like most women when they are told that, she takes it out of context.

Deb then gets a phone call about a double homicide and tells Dexter to meet her there. It's the house that Travis was crashing. For some reason, nobody went inside until Dexter appeared on the scene, and that's a good thing because it gives him a chance to destroy the painting of him on the wall. I guess Dexter holds more sway over the homicide team than we all thought. Dexter also finds a sketch of a tower in the trash can next to a perfectly placed box of Eggo Flip-Flops, and all of a sudden I want to have the taste of maple syrup. Travis drives by and sees that he can't go back in the house, so he flees to Dexter's apartment after finding his license.

Busy Day in the Office

Back in the homicide office, a lot of things are going on. It starts with Crazy Lewis asking Masuka if he can stay on full time after his internship ends. Masuka tells him that it won't happen, but he'll try to throw him some consulting work if he can. It is all but certain now that Dexter will have to go nerd versus nerd next season. Deb holds a briefing about the Lake of Fire tableau which was spotted by a guy in a plane the night before, but never called into the Coast Guard. The team then concentrates on Gellar's last sketch of two guys and an animal on a mountain top looking at an eclipse. Since there are no mountains in Miami, the team tries to find out which skyscraper that Travis will use instead. Dexter uses the sketch that he found in the house to find out that Travis will be using a building that runs on solar energy for the eclipse. Thanks a lot, hippies.

Meanwhile, Batista pulls Quinn aside to tell him that he is being transferred. Finally! Consequences for his actions! Quinn obviously doesn't take the news well. Deb tells Dexter he needs to do a final sweep of the church, but he uses Harrison's Noah's Ark Pageant as a way to get out of that. Father of the Year, folks. While Dexter works his hardest to get out of actual police work, Travis sneaks into his apartment. At the door he finds Lewis' Ice Truck Killer package on the door. He takes it inside and puts on one of Dexter's shirts. It kind of reminded me of that scene at the end of Brokeback Mountain where Heath Ledger hugs the shirt of his lost love.

Travis then sees Jaime going through the house, and learns about Harrison. he gets news about the Ark Pageant from a flyer.

Bad Supervision

Dexter meets Harrison at his school and immediately scares all the other children with his lifelike lion's mask. Great job Dexter. Not only are you an absent father, but you are also scarring all the other kids as well. While Dexter is busy feeding children nightmare fuel, Deb is giving a team of cops and FBI agents a briefing about being on the look out on top of Miami's skyscrapers. The team splits up and the hunt for Travis is officially on.

Dexter is at the school and is looking for Harrison (why he wasn't with him the entire time, I don't know) and is told that he was seen leaving with a man in the lions mask. It looks like Travis is trying to one up Dexter in scaring children by singing a very messed up hymn about the end of the world to Harrison while going to the building. He gets tot he top floor and kills the cop up there with the sacred sword.

Dexter appears and convinces Travis that he needs to die, and not his son. Travis then has Dexter inject himself with his needle. Either Dexter has built up an immunity to tranquilizers or he somehow knew that this would happen, because he tricks Travis and beats him. He then takes Harrison and leaves.

The Shocker

After Dexter leaves the building, Deb and the rest of the homicide team find the dead cop on the roof. Deb starts to freak out about losing Travis, when she is comforted by La Guerta. It seems as though she is now being portrayed in a positive light, but after she was shown all season, it only looks like sloppy character writing. In the meantime, Dexter pulls into a garage with Travis knocked out in the back.

Travis wakes up in a kill room, which is in the abandoned church. Dexter and Travis have a nice discussion about God and the meaning of life, but it really wasn't that important. What is important is that while they were yacking away, Deb had entered the church. Right when Dexter stabs Travis, he looks up and sees that Deb has witnessed the entire thing. Well, on the plus side it doesn't look like the whole incest thing will be happening now.

This has been a season of ups and downs, but overall it wasn't too bad. It was better than season 5, but nowhere near as awesome as season 4. I'd like to thank all of you for reading and contributing to the conversation all season long, and hope you'll stick around for more Dexter coverage until season 7!

What did you think of Dexter season 6? What will the consequences be in season 7 after Deb has seen what Dexter did?